THE BOYS FACE TROUBLE.
"Phew! looks as if we are in for trouble," exclaimed Tom, as he saw
the warlike expression on the farmer's face.
"It does that," agreed Jack. "Hop out, will you, Tom, and get that
grapple clear? Confound it, I don't see how it came loose."
"Wore through the lashing," said Tom, who had been examining the place
where the big hooked steel anchor was usually tied.
"We ought to have seen to it before we started out," said Jack. "We
haven't had it loose since that time we anchored above the Brazilian
forest."
The farmer's angry voice hailed them from below.
"Hey there! Don't yew move a foot till we've had a reck'nin'."
"I am awfully sorry," said Jack. "It was an accident you see. We----"
"Don't care what it was. Thet thar was a new roof. Don't you move a
step till Si here gits ther constabule."
"We'll pay you for the roof," said Jack apologetically. "After all it
isn't much damaged."
Indeed it appeared as if the damage was not so great as they had at
first imagined. After tearing off some shingles the grapple had caught
in a beam and was prevented from doing further harm.
"Yes, yew'll pay, and yew'll go ter jail tew," declared the farmer.
"Consarn it all, what's the country comin' tew? Las' week tew pesky
dod-ratted balloonists hit Hi Holler on ther head with a bag of sand,
and now yew come along in thet thar contraption and try to bust up my
dryin' roof. I'll have ther law on yer."
Matters began to look serious. Jack had no doubt but what the farmer
would accept a money payment for the damaged roof. But it appeared
that the old fellow was bent on more stringent vengeance.
In the meantime Tom had been busy in the stern of the craft and had
succeeded in getting the grapnel loose from the beam into which its
sharp points had dug. It was not till that moment that the farmer
observed him.
He leveled his shotgun at the balloon of the Wondership.
"Don't yew dare ter move er I'll bust a hole right plumb through that
ther airbag of yourn," he said.
"Can't you be reasonable?" asked Jack. "Here's my name." He wrote his
name and address on a slip of paper and threw it down.
But the irate farmer paid no attention to the missive. He kept his gun
steadily trained on the Wondership.
"Move an' I'll bust yer!" he said grimly.
A buggy drove out of the yard. It raced through the gate and then
struck the highroad leading to Rayburn.
"Thar' goes Si arter ther constabule," said the farmer, licking his
thin lips as if with relish. "Hi Ketchum is a rare one arter
automobubblists. I reckon he'll be right smart tickled to death when
he hears I got a whole airship fer him ter 'rest."
"Bother the old grouch," muttered Tom, as he climbed back into the
Wondership, the bag of which was deflated just enough to keep her at
rest on the roof.
"He's evidently mighty serious in his intentions," said Jack, with a
troubled face. "What are we going to do?"
There was a sudden puff of wind and the big yellow balloon bag swayed
slightly.
Instantly the farmer's finger crooked on his trigger. He thought the
boys were going to give him the slip.
"No you don't," he shouted, "you don't fool Ezry Perkins that 'er
way!"
"We're not trying to fool you," said Jack disgustedly. "Why can't you
be sensible. You've our names and addresses on that paper I threw
down to you. If you like I'll make a cash settlement right here for
any damage we've done."
"I'm goin' ter git yer in ther court," insisted the farmer sullenly.
"Las' week some autermobubblists killed three uv my chickens, week
afore thet I had a hog knocked off ther road. I'm er goin' ter git
even on yer fer ther lot uv them."
It was plain that the man was not to be moved by promises or
persuasion. He had conceived in his mind a hatred against automobiles,
with which, in a vague way, he classed airships and all such modern
inventions. Jack thought, too, that Ezra Perkins was the kind of man
who liked to shine out among his neighbors, and what better
opportunity could he have to satisfy this ambition than by blossoming
forth as a man who, single handed, had captured a great aircraft?
The boys looked down. The farmer was pacing grimly up and down like a
sentry, his eyes never leaving the Wondership.
"I'd like to drop a bag of ballast on his head, the same as those
balloonists did on Si's," muttered Tom.
"Wouldn't do any good," said Jack. "It would only bounce off again."
"I guess it would at that," agreed Tom with a grin.
"I've half a mind to take a chance," said Jack suddenly.
"And get a hole blown in the balloon bag," protested Tom. "We wouldn't
be better off than before in that case."
"I wonder if he'd really shoot or if he's only bluffing," mused Jack.
"Take a look at him," advised Tom.
Jack did. One glance was enough. There was no bluffing about the grim,
overalled farmer. The very way in which he held his gun expressed
positive determination not to let the boys escape.
But as it so happened, by no action of the boys', matters were
suddenly brought to a sharp crisis. Over the patch of woods beyond the
farm there came a vagrant puff of wind. It was followed by a sharper
gust.
The Wondership swayed and then, before Jack could check the motion,
drifted off the roof like a piece of thistledown blown by the wind.
Instinctively, to check the downward motion, Jack's hand sought the
gas valve. With a hiss the volatile vapor rushed into the bag.
The big aircraft shot up like an arrow. For a second the farmer stood
paralyzed at the suddenness of it all. His farm hands lounged about,
gaping and looking upward like country folks at a fireworks display.
Then, without any warning:
"Bang!"
The farmer let loose with both barrels at once. But the Wondership
still rose.
All at once, from below, came a yell of surprise and terror. The boys
looked over the side. As they did so they uttered simultaneous gasps
of consternation.
The trailing grapnel, for Tom had forgotten to tie it back in place
in the excitement, had caught the farmer by the waistband of his
overalls and he was being carried skyward by the Wondership, dangling
at the end of the anchor rope like some sprawling spider.
His wife, screaming at the top of her voice, rushed from the kitchen
door.
"Hey, you come back with my husband!" she shouted.
"Lemme go! Lemme go!" bawled the farmer as loudly as he could, for,
held securely by his stout overalls, he was carried high above his own
buildings. He kicked and struggled furiously.
"Keep still," shouted Jack, in serious alarm, from the side of the
Wondership. "Keep still or you'll kick yourself off."
The farmer had sense enough to obey. He hung upside down like a limp
scarecrow, while his farm hands gaped up at him and the hired girl was
busy pouring buckets of water over his wife who was in hysterics.
"Gracious, now we've done it!" gasped Tom in dismay.